Come and be here, steal past my fears, O wounded healer, O humble leader. Show me your hands. Show me your sides. O holy victim, O crucified. I will receive you now. I will receive your love. I will believe in you. I will go on with you. Speak to my heart. Bring me your peace. O broken Savior – O gentle fighter. Breathe on my face. The breath of life. O my Christ let me – share in your life. Bring to my lips now – your blood and body. O bread of heaven, O hope of glory. Send me in love into the world. O faithful teacher – wisdom of God. Prayer from book of Uncommon Prayer
The prayer I just shared
with you is based on the account of Thomas, coming to see Jesus after the
resurrection. Even in his questions, Thomas comes to Jesus. Thomas asks for a
blessing. Thomas, amid great danger and risk – goes to the upper room, to
receive what is needed from Jesus – to then go into the world and proclaim the
good news in word AND action.
While today’s text is not
the lesson of Thomas – this prayer and his story is one that resonates in my
heart as I hear Jesus parables of mustard seeds, yeast in flour, treasure
buried in fields, pearls of great price, and fishing nets that go deep, deep
into the sea to catch fish of every kind.
Yes this parable speaks
of sorting of good and bad – but when Jesus asks the disciples if they
understand the parable and they say yes… he says this: “Therefore every
scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a
household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.”
In every part of this
parable – Jesus teaches about a treasure that is “like the kingdom of heaven”:
mustard seeds, yeast, buried treasure, pearls of great price and all kinds of
fish. These things – so central to the culture of Jesus day; all focused on
everyday treasure that grows the Kingdom of Heaven. In this parable – there is
treasure present – this treasure is hidden or must be sought after – this
treasure seeking of God’s Kingdom is something that Jesus invites his disciples
to take part in. Jesus who called his first disciples to “fish for people”, repeats
this invitation of treasure seeking to all disciples.
And so, this prayer
retelling Thomas’s calling story connects with these parables of treasure.
Thomas takes us his cross to follow Jesus and become a “scribe trained
for the kingdom of heaven” and
takes his faith treasure into to world – literally.
Thomas goes where God has
called him – to share the good news of Jesus. His treasure telling travels are
believed to have taken Thomas to the Mediterranean, Egypt, Somalia, Arabia,
Java, India, and even as far as Persia and China. Thomas dies at age 61 and most
historians agree he was martyred for his actions of teaching and preaching the
gospel. Thomas – who some called the “doubter” becomes a scribe trained for the
kingdom of heaven – so far as giving his life to the work of sharing to the
good news. In Thomas’s life – I see the parable of the mustard seed, yeast in
flour, pearls of great price, treasure in a field, and fishing for all fish –
come to life. https://www.haaretz.com/jewish/72-ce-thomas-the-apostle-is-murdered-in-india-1.5379553
In Thomas’s going into
the world to share the “good news”; God’s word of hope, God’s statement of
challenge, bears incredible fruit. And as the text from Romans 8 accompanies
today’s gospel reading – these words lay the challenge and promise of God’s
calling at our feet:
… As it is written, “For
your sake we are being killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep to be
slaughtered.”
37No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him
who loved us. 38For I am convinced that neither death, nor
life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor
powers, 39nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all
creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our
Lord.
The calling of following
Jesus is a difficult challenge that does not promise safety – as Madeline
L’Engle so beautifully said…
While the calling to
follow Jesus does not guarantee “safety” – it is a calling of great treasure. A
calling for mustard seeds and yeast to unearth the treasure of heaven.
In today’s parable of a
mustard seed, we see the wild and powerful ability of a tiny seed – a mustard
seed. In this parable, we are given a
vision of what can be of our lives – of our mustard seeds – with the always
with us presence of God. This parable paints a picture of what can be – if only
we abide in Jesus.
This unearthing of
treasure is the calling God gives to each of us. We may not be called to India
like Thomas – but each of us have a calling.
God takes small seeds of
faith and grows them into unexpected harvests.
Mustard seeds become
trees – yeast works through dough and becomes bread – fields are bought because
of the treasure that is hidden in them, bland flour becomes real bread that
feeds the hungry – pearls of great price become the resources needed for God’s
love to make real change possible in our broken world.
When we understand our
calling to follow Jesus and act upon that calling, we become like the scribe
from Matthew 13 who: is like the master of a household who brings
out of his treasure what is new and what is old.”
Siblings in Christ – we are invited and essential
in this calling of proclaiming and living the gospel, wherever God calls us.
But as we are called – we like Thomas – must go.
I once heard a preacher give a fiery sermon on following Jesus. The preacher asked … “What do you fear?” The preacher also reminded the listeners of God’s promise from Romans – that nothing can separate you from the love of God. They posed and important question…
“Is the very thing we
fear are the place God calls us to serve?”
The preacher’s words were not “safe” but the words
were true.
Perhaps, the very thing I feared was the place God
called me to serve?
When he asked that question of what I feared, many
things came to mind: poverty, racism, violence. In that moment, I acknowledged
that I doubted God’s ability to be present in those places of poverty, racism,
and violence. In that moment, a god-inspired thought came to me…
“If nothing can separate me from the love of God, God is present in those places of poverty, racism and violence. If God calls me to serve in these spaces or other things I fear – God will be with me there too. God will and can be with me - with us – in all places and circumstances. If this is true – what is holding me back?”
God is with
us in the fearful places – God calls us to partner in the unearthing of
treasure – of mustard seeds, of yeast, of pearls and fish of all kinds. God
calls us to the treasure seeking work of following and being sent out by Jesus.
"If I affirm that the universe was created by a power of love, and that all creation is good, I am not proclaiming safety. Safety was never part of the promise. Creativity, yes; safety, no." And It Was Good
Siblings in Christ – we are called to be the seeds
of hope in the world. Yes, this calling is not an easy one – but when is
unearthing treasure every easy?
Seed may be small – but big things grow from them.
Yeast may look unimpressive – but it has the power
to satiate incredible hunger.
Pearls start their life a grain of sand, irritating
its host – but what come of discomfort and challenge can bear beautiful
treasure.
All have been called to this work of sharing old
and new treasure – it is in us – stopped up in our bones. Now is the time for
that treasure to be released, to be freed, to be broken open…
Jesus is with us as we are irritated, planted, and
kneaded into the calling God has for us. The Holy Spirit guides us in the path
of true treasure seeking. The question is, will we like Thomas live out this
prayer, this calling to unearthing God’s treasure?
Come and be here, steal past our fears, O
wounded healer, O humble leader. Show us your hands. Show us your sides. O holy
victim, O crucified. we will receive you now. We will receive your love. We will
believe in you. We will go on with you. Speak to our heart. Bring us your
peace. O broken Savior – O gentle fighter. Breathe on our face. The breath of
life. O my Christ let us – share in your life.
Bring to our lips now – your blood and body. O bread of heaven, O hope of glory. Send us in love into the world. O faithful teacher – wisdom of God.
The treasure of heaven
awaits – in us, stopped up in our bones – in us – may it be released, broken open
and poured out to bear fruit. May God’s treasure be worked through the dough of
our hunger, may we live out our calling and, in our fears, - to labor for the
good news and good work of God, on earth as it is in heaven. AMEN
Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52
31[Jesus] put before [the crowds] another parable:
“The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in
his field;32it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is
the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come
and make nests in its branches.”
33He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven
is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until
all of it was leavened.”
44“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a
field, which someone found and hid; then in his joy he goes and sells all that
he has and buys that field.
45“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in
search of fine pearls; 46on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold
all that he had and bought it.
47“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was
thrown into the sea and caught fish of every kind; 48when it was full, they
drew it ashore, sat down, and put the good into baskets but threw out the bad.
49So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate
the evil from the righteous 50and throw them into the furnace of fire, where
there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
51“Have you understood all this?” They answered,
“Yes.” 52And he said to them, “Therefore every scribe
who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a
household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.”
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